Trinity Sunday may be seen as an appropriate ending of the first half of the Christian Year and also an introduction to the second half. The events commemorated in the Gospel readings from Advent to Pentecost in The Book of Common Prayer (following the Sarum Lectionary) reveal the Father acting through His Son and by His Spirit. The content of the Gospel readings after Trinity Sunday until Advent focus on what Jesus taught, and underlying all He taught is the revelation of the Father through the Son and by the Holy Ghost.

Such was the enthusiasm in England for this Feast that the English Missals (see e.g., the Sarum Missal) reckoned the Sundays from then on and until Advent as Sundays after Trinity rather than (as in Rome) Sundays after Pentecost. At the Reformation Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in editing The Book of the Common Prayer [1549] for the reformed Church of England simply followed the English usage rather than that of Rome. And, happily the Church of England has recently returned to this ancient practice of the Ecclesia Anglicana, in her new Calendar for her Directory entitled, Common Worship.

Trinity Sunday and its Collect

The Latin Collect in use in the Ecclesia Anglicana until 1549 was:

Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui dedisti famulis tuis in confessione verae fidei aeternae Trinitatis gloriam agnoscere, et in potentia majestatis adorare Unitatem: quaesumus ut ejusdem fidei firmitate ab omnibus semper muniamur adversis….

Cranmer's translation in the 1549 BCP was:

Almighty and everlasting God, which hast given unto us thy servants grace by the confession of a true faith to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of the divine majesty to worship the unity: we beseech thee, that through the steadfastness of this faith, we may evermore be defended from all adversity, which liveth and reigneth one God, world without end. Amen.

The translation as amended by the revisers in 1661 for the 1662 BCP:

Almighty and everlasting God, who hast given unto us thy servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of the Divine Majesty to worship the Unity: we beseech thee, that thou wouldest keep us steadfast in this faith and evermore defend us from all adversities, who livest and reignest, one God, world without end. Amen.

[Note: This 17th Century rendering changes the meaning of the original Latin from the beginning of the petition "we beseech thee…" In contrast to the original Latin [& 1549 BCP] where the church prays for protection from "all adversities" through steadfastly believing in the vital Reality & Presence of the Holy Trinity, the revision creates two petitions, one for steadfastness in the Faith and another for defence from all adversities.]

What is extremely significant about this Collect, be it in the Latin or the English of 1549 or 1662, is that it is addressed not to the Father through the Son (as is the norm for Collects) but to the One God, the One Trinity, One Deity - to the Blessed, Holy and Undivided Trinity. Note that there is no ending such as "through Jesus Christ…" In fact, it is the only Collect that is structured in this way and its very existence as such testifies to the importance attached to this Dogma and to this Festival in the medieval Church and by the Reformers of the sixteenth century.

Trinity Sunday & the Proper Preface for "The Order of Holy Communion"

In the Prayer of Consecration [or The Eucharistic Prayer] there is after "Sursum Corde" ["Lift up your hearts…" etc.] a Proper Preface which is related to the time in the Christian Year. In the BCP (1549) Archbishop Cranmer provided for The Feast of the Trinity the following Preface:

"It is very meet, right and our bounden duty, that we should at all times, and in all places, gives thanks to thee O Lord, almighty everlasting God, which art one God, one Lord, not one only Person, but three Persons in one substance. For that which we believe of the glory of the Father, the same we believe of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, without any difference, or inequality: whom the Angels and Archangels laud and magnify…."

It will be noticed that this Preface is addressed to the Trinity as a Unity , the One God & Lord who is Three Persons in One Substance [Deity/Godhead/Divinity]. As such it is unique but it does of course accord with the Collect for Trinity Sunday which is also addressed to the Trinity as a Unity, the One God who is a Trinity of Persons.

In contrast, the Preface in the Sarum Rite is actually addressed to the Father and in translation [The Sarum Missal in English, London, 1868] reads:

"It is very meet, right, just, and our bounded duty that we should at all times and in all places give thanks unto Thee, O Lord Holy Father Almighty, everlasting God, Who with Thy only Begotten Son and The Holy Ghost art one God, art one Lord, not one only Person, but three Persons in one substance. For that which we believe of Thy Glory which Thou hast revealed, the same do we believe of Thy Son, and of the Holy Ghost, without difference or inequality: that in the confession of a true and everlasting Godhead both Distinction in the Persons, and Unity in Being, and Equality in Majesty, be worshipped: which Angels and Archangels praise, Cherubim also and Seraphim, Who cease not to cry with one voice, saying, ... "]

The Council of Trent

In the Eucharistic Prayer of the Council of Trent ("The Tridentine Rite") from the sixteenth century, the Preface is much the same as Sarum and is addressed to the Father in these words:

It is very meet, right and profitable for our salvation that we should at all times and in all places give thanks unto thee, holy Lord, Father Almighty, Everlasting God: who together with thine only-begotten Son, and the Holy Ghost, art one God, one Lord: not in the oneness of a single Person, but in the Trinity of one substance. For what we believe by thy Revelation of thy glory, the same do we believe of thy Son, the same of the Holy Ghost, without difference or inequality. So that in confessing the true and everlasting Godhead, distinction in Persons, unity in Being, and equality in Majesty may be adored, which the Angels and Archangels, the Cherubim also and the Seraphim do praise…
[It will be noticed that there is a switch to the third person from "so that…" in order to acclaim the dogma of the Trinity as a Mystery for doxology, but the address to the Father is maintained.]

Returning the editions of the Prayer Book of 1549 & 1662 we note that the logic is as follows for Trinity Sunday: From "Lift up your hearts" until the end of the "Holy, Holy, Holy" the Prayer is addressed to the Holy Trinity as One Divinity, while the rest of the Prayer is addressed to the Father through the Son and with the Holy Ghost. In contrast, in the Sarum & Tridentine Rites the whole is addressed to the Father but with a theological doxology to the Trinity inserted.

In the proposed revision of The Prayer Book in England in 1928, the Preface was adjusted to be like the Sarum and Tridentine Rites:

Who with thine only-begotten Son and the Holy Ghost are one God, one Lord, in Triinty of Persons and in Unity of Substance: For that which we believe of thy glory, O Father, the same we believe of thy Son and of the Holy Ghost, without any difference or inequality. Therefore, with angels and archangels…

And this adjustment was also made in various other editions of The Prayer Book - the American 1928 BCP for example.

As measured by classic orthodoxy, the dogma of the Early Church in her Ecumenical Councils, the Collects and Prefaces of The Book of Common Prayer (1662) for Trinity Sunday proclaim and teach sound faith.

The same orthodoxy is most exquisitely declared in the first half of the Quincunque Vult, the Athanasian Creed.

What we have to do as faithful Christians is to make this form of sound words to be the means whereby we actually adore, magnify and praise from the depths of our soul - in mind and heart - the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost as Three Persons, one God.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost: as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Common Worship (Church of England 2000)

Regrettably when we turn to the modern language collect and post-communion prayer for Trinity Sunday in Common Worship we find ourselves disappointed, perhaps shocked.

The Collect is obviously based on that of The Book of Common Prayer and seems on first reading to be fine but a second look reveals its inadequacy as prayer.

Almighty and everlasting God, you have given us your servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity and in the power of the divine majesty to worship the Unity: keep is steadfast in this faith…

What is wrong? The relative clause has disappeared and in its place is a declaration made to God telling him what he already knows and knows perfectly. Humility has given way to pomposity by the loss of the relative clause!

The Post Communion Prayer is even worse for it combines pomposity with carelessness of expression:

Almighty and eternal God, you have revealed yourself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit and live and reign in the perfect unity of love: hold us firm in this faith…

Who is the "eternal God" here? Is it One God who has three prominent names and modes of being, those of Father, Son & Holy Spirit? Is it the One Divinity, One Godhead, which is wholly possessed by each of the Three Persons of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost? Or is it the Father? If it is the latter how is it that He has revealed himself as also Son and Holy Spirit? Very careless construction indeed!

Happily the Proper Preface is sound:

And now we give you thanks because you have revealed the glory of your eternal fellowship of love with your Son and with the Holy Spirit, three persons equal in majesty, undivided in splendour, yet one God, every to be worshipped and adored.

So once again from deep in our souls : "Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost: as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be; world without end. Amen."